The present invention is directed to an improved conveyor system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process of sorting individual material or product from multiple inbound conveyor lanes to multiple outbound conveyor lanes. In one embodiment, the present invention enables the movement of production vials to any lane with limited mechanical diverting.
Within a typical pharmacy production facility, there are automatic processes for the counting and sorting of pill tablets. For example, orders for vials of particular pills are processed automatically through an integrated system of pill counters and conveyors for transporting the vials to the appropriate outbound conveyor location (e.g., or a sorter location). Typically, these facilities are configured with multiple outbound conveyor lanes to allow for higher vial production volumes.
However, with this type of arrangement, multiple vials assigned to one specific order might be distributed to different take away or outbound conveyors which presents problems with the desired goal of getting all of the vials to reach the same downstream order sorter location. When a vial assigned to an order does not reach the designated order sorter location, the release of that order will be delayed, slowing order sorter throughput and diminishing overall productivity of the system.
Additional complications can also arise because demand for different drugs constantly changes which can result in high vial numbers occupying an inbound lane. To cope with these high vial numbers, the control system would have to transfer vials across conveyor lanes up to three times or more to keep both the load balanced on the inbound lane and get the vials to their correct order sorter location.
Accordingly, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a control system that:                assigns an outbound order to a dedicated downstream order sorter location dependent upon the volume of vial load at each sorter;        ensures that all the vials associated with a particular order reach their designated sorter location; and        keeps the lanes exiting the banks of tablet counters balanced so that traffic flow did not slow or stall limiting productivity.        
The present invention, including the physical arrangement of conveyor lanes, improves vial throughput, system efficiency and eliminates the need for balancing the vial load capacity of the inbound conveyor lanes.